Give me sunshine
When I walk to work in the mornings I generally pass the same people. Schoolchildren, their mums, occasional cyclists. With very few exceptions, it's like getting blood out of a stone to drag a smile from most passers-by. Unless I smile at them first they stare at me blankly or even avert their gaze. It's not so early in the morning that everyone would be asleep, and is isn't as if (surely) that I am intimidating - though one woman gave me a very strange look the other day, perhaps having heard me saying a cheerful, "Hello, cat," to one of the many felines I encounter during my walk. There's a nice old gent who wishes me Good morning when I see him, but he's about the only one.Perhaps it's something in the Peterborough air, that makes everyone so gloomy.
posted by Tamburlaine @ 6:38 pm
4 Comments:
Well, of course, there are some parts of the country where to make eye contact is to invite physical attack. I found rural Lincolnshire folk far more ready to exchange a greting than people in bigger towns and cities. Here in Norfolk each morning on my way to pick up my paper I can usually get at least a smile out of folk.
You, of course, suffer the effect of living in a big impersonal city like Peterborough.
You might have received a funny look from a complete stranger after saying hello to a cat, I on the other hand got a strange look from my flatmate after saying hello to a batch of brownies I had just baked!
After posting yesterday I got a completely unprovoked smile and nod from a chap passing me on my way home. He was a priest, of course. Does that count, I wonder?
Dave: Were you being ironic in describing Peterborough as a big impersonal city? It's a town, masquerading as a city, purely because it has a cathedral (though very splendid it is).
Sarahvic: Yum, brownies... (I won't make the obvious joke about bobble hats and trefoil badges).
Well, of course, clergy are paid to be nice to everyone, so that doesn't count.
Ironic, me?
Yes, usually.
I lived in P'bro for 2 months once, on a work placement (wearing a dog collar). Happiest days of my life.
(Yes, that was ironic too.)
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